Best hotels to have an affair

Back in August 2008, MSNBC offered up a list of the best hotels to have an affair, writing:

When former Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer admitted to cheating on his wife, we were shocked. Mostly about where the infidelity occurred: Washington’s Mayflower Hotel, where Monica Lewinsky once publicly embraced President Clinton and where JFK’s mistress Judith Campbell Exner used to shack up. Not exactly a hotel for a discreet encounter (though, granted, much lovelier than the overlit Days Inn where Spitzer’s successor, David Paterson, conducted his own dalliances). If only the Luv Guv had asked us for some secretive suggestions, his political career might not have ended so precipitously. Our requirements: a beautiful room to hide away in, a bed the size of a small country, a fantastic restaurant within room-service distance, and, above all, discretion. Not that we condone such behavior, but if you’re going to participate in a little extracurricular fun, here are 12 hotels with no paparazzi, overzealous staffers, or lobby crowds to spoil the fun.

Two that caught my eye were (and check out the awesome tub at The Witchery, in addition to the name!):

1. Hotel Sezz, ParisIt’s hardly the kind of establishment that offers an hourly room rate, but Paris’s Hotel Sezz is perfect for a sophisticated forbidden tryst. This is love, 16th arrondissement–style: a safe distance from the shoppers and tourists of the city’s more famous neighborhoods. The 27-room hotel has done away with the concierge process in favor of a more discreet personal-butler service, 24 hours a day. The rooms are big, especially by Parisian standards, and are refreshingly devoid of the fussiness that dominates the city’s reputation. Imagine hardwood floors and minimalist decor, accented with a bright red chair or thick, shaggy rug. There’s a fair amount of shiny chrome and leather, which is hotel-speak for sex. To drive home the point, the bed stands provocatively on display in the center of the room, and in case the message isn’t clear enough, an enormous stone bathtub sits behind a glass wall, with all the privacy of a fishbowl. Then again, you’re hiding from the people outside your hotel room, not inside.

6. The Witchery, Edinburgh, ScotlandIf the name alone doesn’t sell you on the dark and gothic nature of the place, its location — a few steps from Edinburgh Castle, in the city’s medieval Old Town — will. The Witchery is so named for the hundreds of suspected witches burned at the stake in the 1600s on Castle Hill, a legacy that lends an eeriness to the surroundings. It is mainly known as a restaurant — with lots of dark wood, rich tapestries, red leather chairs, dripping candelabra, and a menu that wins awards — but hidden away upstairs are seven theatrical suites that can accommodate the most dramatic of affairs. After a meal of châteaubriand for two (naturally), a dessert plate of Luxury Witchery Chocolate (their name, not ours), and a bottle of, say, Lafite-Rothschild (why not? — it’s our imaginary dinner), the low lighting allows you to slip away in the shadows to one of the suites upstairs. These romantic love nests are outfitted with antiques, a canopy bed, and a gilded, candlelit bathroom, where thou shalt draw — not “run” — a bath in the claw-footed tub. Just don’t be alarmed at the things that go bump in the night.